| Russian authorities say they have killed Ruslan Gelayev, a top Chechen leader who has been fighting Russian troops in and around the restive Caucasus republic for more than four years. The body of a man who looked like Gelayev had been found in Dagestan, which borders war-torn Chechnya, after a fight that also left two border guards dead, law enforcement officials told Russian news agencies on Monday. Previously-captured Chechen fighters have identified the body, which was found without documents in western Dagestan, as that of Gelayev, who has eluded Russia's attempts to capture or kill him for years. Among Gelayev's most spectacular exploits was the taking of the Komsomolskoye village in Chechnya in March 2000, shortly after Russian troops drove rebels from the capital Grozny. After fierce fighting that lasted days, federal forces eventually recaptured the village, killing hundreds of fighters, but Gelayev escaped into the mountains from where he was reported since then to have staged isolated raids against Russian targets. |